In testing dual-in-line packages, generally referred to hereinafter simply as DIPs, it is often required to insert them in and extract them from a test board, one such type being referred to as a "burn-in" board. Such a board is typically formed with a plurality of parallel, inline rows of slotted DIP-receiving sockets, with the latter normally arranged in close end-to-end relationship both to conserve board space, and to facilitate the removal of the DIPs.
In connection with the required testing of most types of DIPs, considerable care must be taken during not only their insertion into, but extraction out of, the respectively associated sockets so as to neither damage the normally minute, closely spaced and fragile leads, nor the DIPs themselves. Considered more specifically, any appreciable non-uniform and/or non-linear extraction forces, of particular concern herein, can readily cause detrimental bending or twisting of the leads, or even induce stress fractures (cracks) in the body portions of the DIPs. Even only a small amount of bending of the leads during testing, of course, would normally require an additional lead-straightening operation thereafter, which is both time-consuming and expensive, before the DIPs could be permanently mounted, either manually or in an automated manner, in circuit boards (or in circuit packs) employed in the final assembly of any particular type of end-user equipment.
There have been a number of tools employed heretofore to extract multi-leaded circuit packages, and DIPs in particular, from associated lead-engaging sockets. One such tool basically comprises a pair of pivotally mounted gripping jaws that are adapted to grip opposite sides (or ends) of the body portion of a socket-mounted DIP. In using such a tool, it becomes readily apparent that it is not only very difficult to exert only linear upward extraction force on a gripped DIP, but such an operation is very time consuming and tedious when there are large numbers thereof to be extracted, and in a repetitive manner, as is the case when DIPs are to be only temporarily mounted on a test board, such as of the burn-in type.
There is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,846,895 another type of manually operated tool which is particularly adapted to sequentially remove a plurality of DIPs from a row of board-mounted sockets of the slotted type, and to temporarily store the extracted DIPs within a storage channel defined between one side and the upper edge of an elongated wedge-shaped member and an overlying cover permanently secured thereto. Such a permanently formed DIP-receiving storage channel disadvantageously necessitates that each extracted group of DIPs initially received therewithin must be transferred either in loose form to a suitable container, or seriatim "to an auxiliary storage tube of some type so as to free the tool for re-use. Regardless of how rows of such extracted DIPs are subsequently stored prior to use, or in preparation for shipping to another location, the additional handling of such relatively fragile multi-leaded devices often results in detrimental bending of the leads, as well as possible damage to the devices themselves because of excessive jarring, particularly when confined loosely within a storage container or bin.
The use of an extraction tool with a permanently formed storage channel or magazine necessarily also results in the latter having a fixed length. As such, the storage magazine cannot always accommodate all of the DIPs in a given row when, for example, either the size of the DIPs, or the number thereof in a given row, as socket-mounted on a test board, may vary from one DIP-testing application to another. Further restricting the number of DIPs that can be temporarily stored in the extraction tool disclosed in the cited patent, is the use of a handle portion that extends at least substantially axially rearward from the terminated end of the intermediate DIP-storing magazine.
There thus has been a definite need for an extraction device that is not only adapted to extract a plurality of in-line DIP-type integrated circuit packages from a corresponding number of test board-mounted slotted sockets, but which device is adapted to support, positionally confine and utilize an elongated, replaceable magazine of indefinite length, and of the type within which a given plurality of extracted DIPs may be temporarily stored, without any contact with the leads, and from which the DIPs may be subsequently fed directly into automatic component insertion apparatus.